Be Filled

God says of His people, Israel, in Jeremiah 2:13 "My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water." We look to so many things to try to make ourselves feel fulfilled. We are vessels made by God who longs to fill us with Himself. He tells us to wait on Him (Psalm 27:14), to delight ourselves in Him (Psalm 37:4) to seek Him (Jeremiah 29:13) and to love Him wholeheartedly (Luke 10:27), but we busy ourselves trying to do things for Him and to try and make ourselves feel fulfilled. We pursue careers, relationships, worldly applause, thrills, even so called Christian service and apart from a right relationship with Him, they all leave us empty and longing for more. If we would stop pursuing our own happiness and begin to seek Him wholeheartedly, we would be able to approach all of those other pursuits from a place of fullness rather than need. We would be givers rather than takers and would be joyful in the giving. Thinking back on Martha and Mary, it seems that Martha was deriving her worth from the tasks that she was doing. But our true worth is in the One who created us and loves us so much that He gave His Son to be the sacrifice for our sins. When we try to fill ourselves, often we end up frustrated and upset with those who don't fall into line with our agenda. Martha was frustrated that Mary wasn't helping her, but Mary had chosen to spend time in the presence of Jesus. Martha was being depleted while Mary was being filled. Saint Augustine said of God, "You have made us and drawn us to Yourself, and our heart is unquiet until it rests in You." This quote is part of a longer writing in which he takes his heartfelt questions from God's word and wrestles with them in prayer. Let us seek God in this way, truly desiring to know Him. Then, as He fills us with Himself we will be blessings rather than burdens. As the Bible says in John 7:38 "Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”